Fashion designers Heather Lutz and Teresa Lake knew something was missing in the fashion world.
The two friends had wanted to create a clothing line together and when they realized there was a niche to fill in sleepwear, they jumped at the chance to fill it and Paper Label, based in Deep Cove in North Vancouver, was formed.
"You can pretty much go anywhere and buy anything, but at a certain price point, sleepwear falls off the map," says Lutz, adding that many sleepwear lines offer the extremes of up-to-your neck lace, down-to-yourankle flannel or super bright colours.
"We just wanted something that was a bit more subtle and modern and feminine. That's what was missing so that's what we created."
The Paper Label clothes are made from a Tencel/Spandex blend that Lutz calls their "star No. 1 fabric." Both Lutz and Lake had worked with the material before and it quickly became a favourite.
"The whole reason we ended up in sleep(wear) was this fabric - we love it," says Lake.
Cotton holds moisture, Lutz explains, and is not ideal to sleep in. "Tencel fabric moves the moisture from next to your skin to outside, it actually just passes through, it's so incredibly breathable and it's naturally antibacterial," says Lutz. "You can wear the T-shirt and sleepwear for days and your pyjamas still smell beautiful, they will just smell lovely, like your sheets, like your shampoo, like your perfume, just like you. It's really great."
The two presented their clothes to the sleepwear buyer and creative team at Hudson's Bay, which garnered positive feedback.
"We thought initially that we would wholesale it and that people would rebrand it under their own label and then we presented it to The Bay and the buyer and the creative team just loved it so much," says Lutz.
Hudson's Bay also liked the Paper Label name, so Lutz and Lake kept it for themselves.
"Our first collection dropped in summer 2013 and it was our core pieces of Tencel," says Lake. "Heather's been working with it as a designer for years and the realization of how great it works and what limited offering there is in the sleep category drove us into designing these pieces, so we started off with a little capsule collection just to see how it would go."
The collection took off and Lutz adds that some pieces are hard to keep in stock.
"We have a small core collection now with a lounge legging that we can't keep in the store, it's been insane," she says. "Another that we cannot keep in the store is our multi-way T-shirt, so it's a T-shirt that you can either wear with the V-neck to the back or the front. It's great for temperature regulation because if you find yourself really a warm sleeper, then if you put the V-neck in the back it actually cools you off quite a bit. It's really a cool piece."
Paper Label offers a variety of sleepwear and lounge wear pieces, priced from $30 to $110, in what Lutz calls "a subtle colour palette" of silvery pinks, grey mixes and even a dark turquoise.
"We just got into the loungewear so we've got like a brushed jersey, so that comes in a poncho and a boyfriend pant, a little bit of a slouchy pant and then a luxe robe," says Lutz. "And we have a little sleep short that's a really, really cute item and a tank top that goes with it."
Lutz says she and her business partner enjoy working with Hudson's Bay and, aside from a salon in Toronto that also carries Paper Label, they have no plans yet to expand into any more retailers. The duo may present the line at Hong Kong Fashion Week in January.
"We've actually realized pretty much all over the world there's a big hole where this kind of collection should be so I think right now it's taking it to other places and presenting it," she says.
Lutz added that she wants to remain true to the core of the sleepwear and loungewear categories.
She says they realized they have quite a large clientele base of women between the ages of 30 to 60.
"Our demographic is so much wider than if we had just presented a ready-to-wear collection," says Lutz. "I think that's really exciting to bridge that many ages of women together with one collection."
Lake says they have had requests on social media for a menswear line as well.
"We've got our hands full in sleep(wear), we want to make sure we have this fully developed and curated before we start exploring too many other areas," says Lake.
Both Lutz and Lake say the collection, especially the loungewear, is flexible enough to be worn outside the house.
"We don't suggest doing yoga in it," says Lutz laughing. "You could if you're in the comfort of your own home. Lots of our girls are like 'Oh, we don't keep it to our bedrooms and living rooms,' they wear the poncho hoodies and stuff all around, so that's really cool."
Lake says many of her own friends have picked up pieces from the collection.
"They just say how great it is because they can actually run out to, with some of the lounge pieces, they can go run out and pick up their son from soccer and their daughter from dance and feel dressed enough and funky enough that they don't look like they can't leave the house, like they're in the their sweats," says Lake. "We've got a little bit of a fashion edge to every piece we put out."
